


we keep this love in a photograph

by aeriamamaduck



Series: Saint Petersburg Days [3]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Babies, Comfort, Developing Relationship, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fatherhood, Films, Flashbacks, Grief/Mourning, Love, M/M, Marriage, Motherhood, POV Multiple, POV Outsider, Parallels, Parenthood, Past Character Death, Photographs, Pregnancy, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-17
Updated: 2017-12-17
Packaged: 2019-02-15 02:45:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13021614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aeriamamaduck/pseuds/aeriamamaduck
Summary: Leonid and Nadezhda discuss names.-Yuuri and Victor watch home movies.





	we keep this love in a photograph

_"Just how many pictures are you going to take, Leonid?" she asked, mildly grumpy and frowning at the young man behind the camera._

 

_Leonid smiled at Nadezhda sheepishly as he held the camera close to his chest. "As many as possible," he replied, gazing at her in adoration and making his way over to sit beside her on the couch. "I can't help it. You look so beautiful, Nadya."_

 

_She snorted a little derisively, though she softened it with a tender smile of her own as she leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder. "Well I feel awful. Your baby hasn't been letting me sleep. It keeps twisting around and kicking me."_

 

_"I'll make it apologize as soon as it's born," Leonid said, kissing her forehead and stroking her hair. His other hand stroked the hard bump of her belly, and sure enough he felt a kick against his palm, one that made Nadezhda wince slightly. "Come on, lapochka," Leonid cooed to the bump, gently stroking the spot where he'd felt the kick. "Don't torture your mama."_

 

_His own words made his guilt resurface, though he tried his best to keep it at bay most days. She was sacrificing so much, and he was sometimes afraid she hated him. She would be right to, of course, but he just hoped she didn't hate their baby._

 

_She'd be a good mother, he knew that. Better than his own. And he'd be attentive, more than his own father was. Nadezhda would certainly have regrets, but Leonid wanted her to be happy. They could make this work._

 

_"I was thinking about names," she murmured sleepily._

 

_"Really? Tell me," he exclaimed excitedly. Seven months and they hadn't really considered names. Leonid was not really dying to name his child after anyone in his family, and Nadezhda was already coping with so much. He thought perhaps something would come to them when the baby was born, but his wife had surprised him._

 

_She lifted her head, her gorgeous blue eyes stunning him into silence. Her audience would call her cold and focused, but none of them ever saw her the way Leonid did; soft and unguarded. Scared and sensitive. She stroked her belly, her eyes looking down at it tenderly. "If it's a girl...maybe we could call her Victoria after my grandma? If it's a boy we'll call him Victor."_

 

_Leonid smiled, thinking about Nadezhda's grandmother. A whirlwind of a woman who had survived her fair share of sorrow, living through the war and having to escape her native Kiev. She raised three children in the aftermath of all of it, Nadya's mother among them. She had a booming laugh, one that used to startle Leonid when he heard it before he came to know the warmth behind it. "It's perfect," he said to his wife, putting his hand over hers._

 

* * *

 

_"Catch him, Leo!"_

 

Yuuri watched avidly as the tiny, two-year-old Victor on screen raced away from his parents, his giggles fading as he put distance between them. They'd set up a VCR to watch the tapes Nadezhda had given to them, and this one featured a surprise summertime picnic. Victor's father had been filming for several minutes, focused on the toddler's curious face as he stood looking at his surroundings. A small dog suddenly ran by, and Victor's eyes widened with sudden interest before he bolted after it, causing Nadezhda to call out in a panic.

 

Leonid quickly set the camera down, managing to position it so that they could still see him running after his son. _"Vitya! Come back, synok!"_

 

God, Yuuri was still caught off-guard by the way Victor took after his father in looks and voice. He turned to look at Victor, who was holding a photograph of his heavily-pregnant mother, and said, "It's good to know your dog obsession was already well-established.

 

"I feel awful, though!" Victor replied with a laugh. "They sound so terrified!"

 

They  _did_ sound terrified. They were still incredibly young, and even in the photograph they could see how exhausted Nadezhda was, even if she wore a soft smile. Yuuri couldn't help the surge of tenderness he felt looking at the bump beneath her hands, leaning in to press a kiss to Victor's neck.

 

They looked at the television again in time to watch Leonid walk back with a beaming Victor in his arms. They disappeared from the frame but Leonid's voice was still audible when he said with relief,  _"There's Mama. You scared her, you naughty boy."_

 

Two-year-old Victor merely squealed in response, even as his mother scolded, _"Vitya, don't ever do that again!"_

 

Then the camera was picked up, jostling the image for a moment before it landed on Nadezhda hugging Victor tightly, her face pressed into his hair as he stared back at his father, blissfully unaware of the stir he'd caused. " _Oh. I left the camera on,"_ Leonid muttered, but he lingered on his wife and son for a few moments before shutting the camera off.

 

There was static for a moment before another scene began, this time in Victor's childhood home. Whoever held the camera was walking down the hallway leading to the bedrooms, and they heard Nadezhda say,  _"A big day today. Look at these two sleepyheads."_ She walked into their bedroom, where Leonid was lying on the bed, sleeping deeply as Victor lay on his stomach, Leonid's hand resting on the toddler's back.  _"Leo and Vitya, both of them out cold. It's finally quiet."_

 

Yuuri reached for Victor's hand, squeezing as he gazed at the utterly trusting and peaceful look on that baby's face. Victor squeezed back, sighing deeply and resting his head on Yuuri's shoulder. "I think I was four the last time he did that," he said quietly. "I missed it."

 

Pressing his cheek against the top of Victor's head, Yuuri reached up to stroke his hair comfortingly. On the screen Nadezhda appeared to have sat down on the edge of the bed, keeping the camera on Leonid and Victor's sleeping forms.

**Author's Note:**

> fun fact: I too bolted away from my mom when I was two, but she was wearing an ankle boot at the time so she was very much terrified, considering we were in a very public area
> 
> I'm still apologizing for it 24 years later.


End file.
